V8 vs V6 engines - nostalgia vs modernization

In recent times, Bernie "scruz mcduck" Eclestone is beating his bushes trying to ban V6 turbos even when he initially seemed to like it and not to mention all the manufacturers have put bucket of wad already developing it.

i seriously doubt Bernie can/should stop the V6 turbo, and frankly i don't see what's the fuss is about. i for one would love to see V6 turbo's (maybe i'm a engineer ). they are representative of things that you get in the car that you can afford. Also all the green crap is just BS. it's pretty well known that turbo needs same/more fuel than NA ones (turbo needs power of exhaust gas,it's not free), it's not freaking diesel, so saving fuel is not the issue. i care less about sound, sound is generated by exhaust layout. 6 cylinder can produce the same noise as 8 one's, and i love the sound of turbo wastegates chirping. Also in race, the driver boost management and same fuel for everyone should throw up new strategies and more variables (short overboost for overtaking comes to mind).

also Autosport did a feature on V6 turbos, and specially Renault wants it more than anyone, and seeing the amount of teams they supply engines to, i wouldn't be surprised if in 2014 50% of the teams choose renault over merc/ferrari. Mercedes is also keen on v6 as they've switched to more turbo V6's in their road cars. Only ferrari seems not to like the idea, but honestly, apart from F1 heritage, ferrari is not representive of the wider automotive world.

And not to forget, VW and Honda have expressed their desire to return to F1, i'd doubt they'll like V8's over turbo V6's. it's how marketing works, if u open a newspaper and saw a renault clio saying ''our car performance is developed from the same v6 turbo technology in F1'', rather '' our v6 turbo in megane is best cause we make the best NA V8 for RBR'' which would sell more cars???

Also all the green crap is just BS. it's pretty well known that turbo needs same/more fuel than NA ones (turbo needs power of exhaust gas,it's not free), it's not freaking diesel, so saving fuel is not the issue.

Are you serious? Exhaust gasses are free - it's supercharging that's not free.

Are you serious? Exhaust gasses are free - it's supercharging that's not free.

the amount of exhaust gas produced by NA engine won't turn a turbo sufficiently high enough to create boost. also there is the thing of cooling in TC engines. normally even in high performance NA engines, not all fuel burns to create power, some fuel is used to cool the engine cylinder, this is even higher in TC engines. and to maintain a constant rpm in TC to avoid lag, they have to use high fuel that will burn just to produce the necessary gasses at exhaust to keep boost up even in slow corners. (anti-lag system used in WRC cars, look it up) it's a balancing act. i'm expecting 700-750/800 hp in quali trim from TC V6's.

it's pretty well known that turbo needs same/more fuel than NA ones (turbo needs power of exhaust gas,it's not free), it's not freaking diesel, so saving fuel is not the issue. i care less about sound, sound is generated by exhaust layout.

I live in Paris. You have to know that in France, 90% of people have a diesel car.

i live in germany and most people use small hatches (with/without turbo), diesel is also popular specially with large sedans. and i've only seen 2 ferraris in last 3 years. even the porsches are mostly flat-6's with TC. thus my point of representing the majority automotive world.

You are an engineer? Explain how you get the same sound with 200 less hp going through the exhaust, at lower rpm, AND with a turbo in the way?

by same sound, i meant same decibel, off course you'll gonna have the characteristics turbo sound. also take into account the high torque of turbo engine compared to NA engines. which means turbo engines will have a steady and higher torque curve over a wide range resulting in less frequent gear change. so obviously there will be some change.

p.s yes i'm an engineer and who told you the new engines are gonna be 200 hp less powerful ????

If they wanted to make it relevant they'd allow aluminum versions of production engine blocks, and mandate a MPG efficiency.

Otherwise, the engineering is completely different. F1 is ENTERTAINMENT.

ENTERTAINMENT.

"Wow, that sure was exciting watching that Ferrari get great fuel economy! Not to mention it's no louder than my own street car! I am THRILLED! I'll pay anything to see this again!".

Good luck with that, FOM.

then why bother chasing all the aero development and exhaust blowing and other shits if it's only entertainment you want??? face it, formula 1 is a predominantly engineering driven sport, it lives on innovation, and engineers love challanges. last couple of years, it has been strangled by FIA with rules and regs. 2014 engine change is a huge engineering challenge that may well shift the balance. i don't see any reason why that'd be bad for entertainment??? i'll bet the same panic mongers growled in early 80's when most teams ditched cosworth DFV's for renault/honda/bmw turbo's. so my advice is, be patience and give it a go.

Too many new F1 fans and younger people who only care about the entertainment, Kimi Rakkonnen swearing on TV and eating ice cream and drivers saying stupid stuff on twitter to care about the science and engineering in F1. Even the teams, they only want to make a hefty profit rather than develop anything as it "costs too much" and would rather have a "good show"

There seems to be little passion any more in the sport to actually progress.

F1 has changed, the fans have changed, the sport has changed. You can lead a horse to the water but you can't force it to drink. I'm not surprised most people are annoyed at seeing the V8's go. They're much cheaper and more entertaining, it's all F1 is about these days.

It also heavily reflects modern Western society in general. Hardly anyone goes into science and engineering and governments don't care about it anymore. Western countries and societies have effectively abandoned it in favour of becoming conniving businessmen, bankers and lawyers and trying to get rich quick off the backs of others, whilst watching cheap but highly profitable reality television.

Especially in the UK, the country abandoned everything in favour of a financial industry based in London and a useless service sector. And now we're ****ed because of it.

Too many new F1 fans and younger people who only care about the entertainment, Kimi Rakkonnen swearing on TV and eating ice cream and drivers saying stupid stuff on twitter to care about the science and engineering in F1. Even the teams, they only want to make a hefty profit rather than develop anything as it "costs too much" and would rather have a "good show"

There seems to be little passion any more in the sport to actually progress.

F1 has changed, the fans have changed, the sport has changed. You can lead a horse to the water but you can't force it to drink. I'm not surprised most people are annoyed at seeing the V8's go. They're much cheaper and more entertaining, it's all F1 is about these days.

It also heavily reflects modern Western society in general. Hardly anyone goes into science and engineering and governments don't care about it anymore. Western countries and societies have effectively abandoned it in favour of becoming conniving businessmen, bankers and lawyers and trying to get rich quick off the backs of others, whilst watching cheap but highly profitable reality television.

Especially in the UK, the country abandoned everything in favour of a financial industry based in London and a useless service sector. And now we're ****ed because of it.

I just think it provides the perfect example of the modern F1 fan. They all think he's so cool and unique because he appeals to the lowest common denominators. He's the most popular driver now because attitudes have wildly changed, like my mini rant was about anyway. Kimi is just another cog in the box of bullshit and anti-intellectualism that's happened to Western society, ranging from the decline in science and engineering to the rise of reality television.

Too many new F1 fans and younger people who only care about the entertainment, Kimi Rakkonnen swearing on TV and eating ice cream and drivers saying stupid stuff on twitter to care about the science and engineering in F1. Even the teams, they only want to make a hefty profit rather than develop anything as it "costs too much" and would rather have a "good show"

There seems to be little passion any more in the sport to actually progress.

F1 has changed, the fans have changed, the sport has changed. You can lead a horse to the water but you can't force it to drink. I'm not surprised most people are annoyed at seeing the V8's go. They're much cheaper and more entertaining, it's all F1 is about these days.

It also heavily reflects modern Western society in general. Hardly anyone goes into science and engineering and governments don't care about it anymore. Western countries and societies have effectively abandoned it in favour of becoming conniving businessmen, bankers and lawyers and trying to get rich quick off the backs of others, whilst watching cheap but highly profitable reality television.

Especially in the UK, the country abandoned everything in favour of a financial industry based in London and a useless service sector. And now we're ****ed because of it.

makes you wonder that Italians know more about car setup and engineering these days than Brits, back in the hayday of 80s, people knew the cars much better than today. now a days, drivers in twitter and WAGS and FAGS make the headlines more often than technicalities.

You are an engineer? Explain how you get the same sound with 200 less hp going through the exhaust, at lower rpm, AND with a turbo in the way?

This whole sound thing is such a red herring. How many people at F1 where earplugs? Most, I would say. I didn't at Spa this year and man I regretted it. Ears ringing for a week. Yes the sound is half the experience but when it's too loud to be comfortable to start with, turning it down a bit is no bad thing.

Aside from volume... Tone / pitch: a lot of people love the shriek of a turbo. I'm looking forward to it.

This whole sound thing is such a red herring. How many people at F1 where earplugs? Most, I would say. I didn't at Spa this year and man I regretted it. Ears ringing for a week. Yes the sound is half the experience but when it's too loud to be comfortable to start with, turning it down a bit is no bad thing.

Aside from volume... Tone / pitch: a lot of people love the shriek of a turbo. I'm looking forward to it.

So you think it is both a bit of a distraction and "half the experience"?

You cannot get away from the fact that sound matters to many people, hence why a lot of people are not entirely sure about these upcoming changes. I went to my first race in 2010. Before I even saw a car, I heard the sound (at the entrance of Monza park) and it is still the sound which thrills me most. Sorry if some people don't see it as a big deal, but many, like me, do.

That said, maybe the V6's will sound good and this argument will be for nothing. As a few have said, it seems hard to believe.

So you think it is both a bit of a distraction and "half the experience"?

You cannot get away from the fact that sound matters to many people, hence why a lot of people are not entirely sure about these upcoming changes. I went to my first race in 2010. Before I even saw a car, I heard the sound (at the entrance of Monza park) and it is still the sound which thrills me most. Sorry if some people don't see it as a big deal, but many, like me, do.

That said, maybe the V6's will sound good and this argument will be for nothing. As a few have said, it seems hard to believe.

If you've ever heard any other engines than the V8's, you'd know that your fears are ungrounded. The former engines sounded fine, as will the new turbos.

So you think it is both a bit of a distraction and "half the experience"?

You cannot get away from the fact that sound matters to many people, hence why a lot of people are not entirely sure about these upcoming changes. I went to my first race in 2010. Before I even saw a car, I heard the sound (at the entrance of Monza park) and it is still the sound which thrills me most. Sorry if some people don't see it as a big deal, but many, like me, do.

That said, maybe the V6's will sound good and this argument will be for nothing. As a few have said, it seems hard to believe.

The two things aren't contradictory. It's half the experience while wearing earplugs. If quieter it can still be half the experience just with less effective earplugs.

Agree that the sound is thrilling before your're even inside the track. However you'd still get that thrill, just have to be a bit geographically closer? Would I have been less excited at Spa to first hear the engines from the entrance (still a long way from the track) instead of the car parks a mile away?

Edit: furthermore, where did you get that I meant it was a distraction? I regretted not wearing earplugs because the sound of 24 F1 cars going full bore through Eau Rouge left me slightly deaf for days, in no way was the sound distracting. It was wondrous - until the pain started...

The two things aren't contradictory. It's half the experience while wearing earplugs. If quieter it can still be half the experience just with less effective earplugs.

Agree that the sound is thrilling before your're even inside the track. However you'd still get that thrill, just have to be a bit geographically closer? Would I have been less excited at Spa to first hear the engines from the entrance (still a long way from the track) instead of the car parks a mile away?

Edit: furthermore, where did you get that I meant it was a distraction? I regretted not wearing earplugs because the sound of 24 F1 cars going full bore through Eau Rouge left me slightly deaf for days, in no way was the sound distracting. It was wondrous - until the pain started...

aren't we forgetting something??? 95% of people watch formula 1 on telly, most of us never saw a static formula car, let alone attend GPs and see running cars due to where we live. so for us >95%, sound of f1 car is what TV broadcasts it to be, and also said before, many people like turbo noises, so for them it's a throwback to 80's exciting turbo era. but for the sake of argument, is only sound of F1 cars excite people or the drivers and race craft??? it's racing people, coupled with engineering, not sound/beauty contest.

aren't we forgetting something??? 95% of people watch formula 1 on telly, most of us never saw a static formula car, let alone attend GPs and see running cars due to where we live. so for us >95%, sound of f1 car is what TV broadcasts it to be, and also said before, many people like turbo noises, so for them it's a throwback to 80's exciting turbo era. but for the sake of argument, is only sound of F1 cars excite people or the drivers and race craft??? it's racing people, coupled with engineering, not sound/beauty contest.

To be entirely balanced, I don't think many people are saying that the sound is the WHOLE experience. But it is certainly a part. And when most of the step-nose cars are ugly as sin, when the engineering has been forced into artificial exploitation of rule loopholes instead of true innovation, and when in many people's eyes the purity of the racing has been removed via DRS / boiled egg tyres, losing the sound element might kill the appeal for some people. However, as I note above, I don't believe this will be the case.

Your point re: the TV audience, however, is spot on. The sound will jiust be rebalanced, no one at home will hear a volume difference.

They should have a set displacement, and the engine makers can have whatever engine they want as long as they are capped at the same displacement, that way we'd have variety at least, different cars sounding different, i dont like that each car sounds the same, its boring and not special anymore, back in the 90's when a Ferrari V12 went past, you knew about it.

Fix the fuel tank size at some arbitrary figure - 30 gallons say, and let the engineers do their stuff. Not the best way to reduce costs mind.

Frankly, as someone who started watching F1 in the 70s all this whining about losing the sound of V8s (and V10s for that matter) is a lot of fuss about nothing. The sound will be different, not better, not worse, just different.

Fix the fuel tank size at some arbitrary figure - 30 gallons say, and let the engineers do their stuff. Not the best way to reduce costs mind.

Frankly, as someone who started watching F1 in the 70s all this whining about losing the sound of V8s (and V10s for that matter) is a lot of fuss about nothing. The sound will be different, not better, not worse, just different.

regarding noise

regarding engine variety

that worked in 80's cause the lack of modern electronics i.e ECU's and lack of material development ,design etc etc etc. now a days, too many variable to equilize engine performance. also take into account that v8's occupy much larger space than v6 turbos, so aero alone will make v8's obsolete. but the biggest issue will come from torque. turbo cars have much higher and flatter torque curve than rev happy v8's.

martin whitmarsh in a intervew a while back rejected the idea of engine parity, they tried it during 2006 with toro rosso using restricted v10s. didn't work.